Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. Stanford was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15 the previous year. Stanford is generally ranked among the best universities in the world by academic publications. It is also one of the top fundraising institutions in the country, becoming the first school to raise more than a billion dollars in a year.
